Walk the Walk Presents Sight & Sound: 07.18.09

This month, Sight & Sound went up against two major heavyweights: the San Diego Pride Festival in Hillcrest and the StayClassy.org Padres Tailgate at Petco Park, with both events boasting some great local and national talent. Even so, S&S held their own, which was no surprise considering they had some ringers themselves. The visual and aural exhibition—hosted by Bart Mendoza, of Blindspot Records and The Shambles—offered up quite the selection this weekend.

But first, I’ve gotta tell you: This is just about the best $5.00 you could spend for a night out, or even to get your night started. Not only can you get an evening full of entertainment, you can also feel good about supporting the local music and art scene in general, and proceeds for this month’s event also went to benefit Pride and Little & Large. People who arrived before 8:00 p.m. received a free “adult beverage,” plus first dibs at free concert tickets from House of Blues. This last part alone was worth way more than the cover. HOB was giving away pairs of tickets to shows ranging from Journey and Sublime tribute bands to Gomez and Michael Franti & Spearhead, and a whole slew of others.

Back to the show . . .(click keep on reading for more)


At Planet Rooth & 4 Walls Gallery, past their current exhibit in the front, the back section of the gallery—essentially where all the art magic happens—housed a makeshift stage where the Afghan fusion trio of Brothers Nasrat opened up for Astra Kelly’s one-woman acoustic set.

In between these music sets, the Lotus Theater Collective performed a preview of what can only be described as the best bastardized versions of Shakespeare plays that one could hope for. What they were lacking in costumes, they made up for in witty dialogue and clever antics. (You can catch their full show, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare[abridged] by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield, at Swedenborg Hall, August 6th through 29th.)

Just beyond the workshop, in the small courtyard, the talented comic book artist Sean Dietrich was live painting. (He’s currently working on a painting depicting a quasi-tapeworm/lifesucking beast sporting a Commie hammer and sickle with three people dangling from it, all of the people appearing to have had the life sucked out of them. Hmmm. Also, for all the Comic Con fans, since he’s exhibiting his work at The Con this week, you can catch him out at various venues just about every night.)

Beyond the courtyard near what we’ll call the “outdoor stage,” the San Diego Art Journal and local abstract artist Mark Jesinoski hosted a booth with a giant canvas for a collective group art project. Kathleen, the Fire Fairy, and Silke Polanco entertained the crowd with their hypnotic, light-up hula hoops.

On the outdoor stage, opening for Monsters from Mars, was the Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra. Deeeelightful! The mastermind Professor B. Miller was dressed in a white lab coat and stood behind a fur podium, where he appeared to be mixing while dancing. The real star of the show, SPO-20, was a life-sized robot with a brain inside of a clear domelike head and devil horns on top, of course. On SPO-20’s torso, a mesmerizing round screen provided the perfect visual complements to the bizarre lyrics—all sung in a robot voice. He/they opened with “Ornithophobia,” a hilarious song about the possibility of poisonous birds.

Monsters from Mars headlined and finished off the night, in spite of some technical difficulties.

You just never know what to expect from Jon Block and Adam Rosen, the creators of Sight & Sound. According to Block, next month’s event will be revamped significantly and will undergo a major facelift.

Stay tuned.

Transfer & AVicious - Ruby Room 2/28 - VIDEO!

I must confess that I have honestly never met Seth Combs whose birthday we were on hand to celebrate when we drove down to San Diego Saturday for the Ruby Room show. In fact I don't even think I met him that night. So I will take this chance to wish him a very happy birthday and to thank him for having an event designed to protest the most inhumane prop h8. Charity usually means that you drink a little more than you would during regular shows. That combined with so many good friends and so little will power equates to a VJ set with a bit more improv than normal. Good thing it worked. We had such a great time at this event. Meeting Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra was eye opening and I would put them on the MUST SEE list. Only Pauly from Rocky IV had a better relationship with his robot. McFlow was definitely good but how bout a round for the VJ's who lit up your set on the fly? Well, maybe next time. Ruby Room staff - big ups as they say for helping us so much at load in and throughout the night!

Here are videos from the show - Transfer, Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra & McFlow (subscribe to our YouTube - it's classy):

Overdue Recap: Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra, Casbah, 7/30/08

A few weeks ago I went to the Casbah for my first encounter with the Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra. I missed 300% Dynamite, but was there for The Crocodiles. I had enjoyed the Crocodiles in the past, but this set was too loud, a bit self-indulgent with too many solos, and watching someone spit onstage grosses me out, so I spent about half their set on the patio. I like their 90's Manchester influence though, so hopefully they go more in that direction, because Brandon really does have a great front-man voice.

Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra was pretty awesome. Professor B has set up witty robot banter with his robot and the visuals on SPO-20's robot chest make the whole show visually exciting. At one point, Prof. B handed out cardboard hand-drawn keytars and made the audience "play along" so the pic below is of Peter rocking out.



Here's a snippet of 'Robots Can't Cry'.



Your next chance to see SPO is at the Casbah for Anti-Monday League on August 25, or catch SPO-20 hosting Musical Pursuit trivia at The Whistle Stop on August 28.

Funny Robot Stuff: Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra

Since I'm running a contest to win the Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra box set, I've been thinking about robots and was remembering how earlier this year there was some controversy about some researcher claiming that sex with robots will be common in the next decade and marriage to robots will be legalized by 2050. I'm not even kidding. And the awesome thing, of course, is not only that I remembered it, but of course, it's quite easy to find via Google.



Awesome robot books here with killer titles like Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships , How To Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion, Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species.

And here's another interview with Dr. Levy.

I think there are people who feel a void in their emotional and sex lives for any number of reasons who could benefit from robots. Other people might try out a relationship with a robot out of curiosity, or be fascinated by what's written in the media. And there are always people who want to keep up with the neighbors.

Please, no sex with the Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra on Wednesday night at the Casbah. I mean, unless they initiate.

Are Robots Evil? Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra might be your answer

Petro has been wondering, are robots evil?

Well yes sometimes they are, like when they try to take over the world, but sometimes they are good too, like when they are helping you make music. What I’m getting at here is that there is a pretty cool band in our sunny little burb that I have been getting into recently called Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra. It consist Professor B. Miller and SPO-20, a robot who handles the singing duties. “Wow”, you say, “…but Petro, that name kind of scares me, I mean it has satanic right in the title, wouldn’t that alone make this band evil?” Well no, its just name, they’re probably not satanists. And to this you reply “Well also Petro, the band has a robot, who is the lead singer, and everybody who’s anybody knows that people who want to be lead singers are inherently evil because they want to take over the world” Well, no, maybe, no, no I don’t think so, anyways, your probably thinking about it too much. “but before you said…” Be quiet you!

Anyhoo, I just bought their debut CD, a very impressive four CD box set, complete with a lovely booklet explaining much inside, and some wonderful art. Also, my copy came with a limited edition EP which had a personalized message from SPO-20 as the first track. Now would he have done that if he was evil? Hummmm? They can also be hear on last years San Diego Christmas compilation that Peter (Roxy Jones) put out. Further proof that they are not evil!

You can check them out live 07.30.08 at the Casbah, I’ll definitely be there. Oh, and by the way, if I’m never heard from again, they were probably evil.

Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra

If you've read this far, the Professor would like to give away some free box sets! Shoot me an email at sddialedin AT gmail DOT com and tell me if you think robots are evil (a simple yes or no will suffice), include your name, e-mail, address and phone number and I'll pick 3 winners by Tuesday.